The present invention relates generally to the field of munition payload filling apparatus and to other liquid and quasi-liquid filling apparatus where precise quantities are dispensed.
Persons working in the munitions-making field are now and have been plagued with a multitude of problems. Aside from the hazards of making lethal munition materials, per se, problems of assembling the various components to make up a munition which is economically made and possesses the optimum in reliability and safety characteristics are ever present. My invention cures one of those problem areas. It deals with a new, unobvious and reliable apparatus which aids in the filling of munition canisters and housings with payload materials.
In the past, processes of filling liquids and quasi-liquids such as acids, chemicals, solutions, slurries, etc., in containers have had shortcomings. These shortcomings have been compounded when volatile, combustible, and flammable materials have been placed in containers. The more complex the equipment, and involved the process is, the more prone to breakdown the system becomes. Any malfunction in a process involving incendiaries, flame agents, explosives, and toxic can create irreparable harm and injury to both person and property.
Numerous methods of filling containers and canisters with liquids are known and are in use.
The gravity or weight method is used. Here the material is progressively weighed in either the container per se or an ancillary container until the proper amount is had. Thereat the filling is stopped. Various scales have been used including electronics, lever, etc., types coupled with or without automatic dumps. However, in the potentially dangerous fill material area wherein corrosion, and erosion of the filling apparatus has been common place, this technique has been found unworkable.
Dip filling has been long known and in fact would appear to stem from caveman times. Here the container to be filled, or, the filler scoop is dipped or submerged into the filling material to a specific depth to thereby fill it and then it is removed therefrom. A good example is the water dipper. It was conventionally used in years gone by, i,e., before the advent of indoor plumbing.
Gravity or pressure-time fill has also been a common use technique. Here, the liquid or quasi-liquid, is flowed into the container or filler mechanism after empirical and/or calculated data indicates a certain amount of material has passed through the outlet. Then a valve, for example, can control flow.
Of the above cited well-known process of filling containers and canisters, all have drawbacks and all do not repetitively provide the same amount of fill in each container. Especially, when used in the acids, chemicals, solutions, slurries and petroleum products area. Corrosion and erosion of the filling apparatus presents numerous problems. The fewer moving parts and automated steps involved diminish the breakdown time; i.e., in the dip method, for example, chain and gear driven conveyors where toxic material is used cause numerous problems of wear, lubrication, deterioration and disintegration to occur. In the pump and gravity methods by weight measure techniques the measure apparatus is of constant concern. In the time method of fill techniques, the apparatus plus viscosity and velocity problems create constant deviations. In all of the above cases isolated atmosphere filling compounds existing problems.
My invention was conceived and reduced to practice to solve the above described problems and to satisfy the long-felt need of providing constant, reliable and safe fills in this difficult to work with area of acids, toxics, chemicals, solutions, munition payloads, slurries and petroleum products where fire and blasts due to explosions and implosions are common place.
Briefly, my invention is a new reliable and safe volumetric cylinder used in my process of filling canisters and containers of varying sizes and shapes with the same volume of liquid or quasi-liquid natural. My process is claimed in copening application Ser. No. 559,859 filed 19 Mar. 1975. It works on the differential pressure principle. That is, my new volumetric cylinder or container is accurately and repeditively filled with the liquid or quasi-liquid fill material in constant amounts by using an overflow or vent tube to equalize the pressure. More specifically, a fill line from a supply source is used and a parallel return line is used. The fill material flows to my new and unobvious volumetric cylinder from the source until an equal pressure minus friction is had. Once this occurs no more fill material will flow therefrom. Hence, a static condition exists so that repetitively this same amount of fill material will always come into the cylinder if the same conditions exist. That is, if the cycle be repeated the cylinder is filled with the same amount of fill material.
My invention provides for exacting and uniform amounts of liquid or quasi-liquid amounts to be deposited in canisters and containers. Further, and most importantly, by the use of volumetric cyclinder in my process, less moving parts are used so that hard to work with acids, chemicals, solutions, mixtures, slurries, etc., of diverse materials can be controllably placed and deposited in containers.
A principal object of my invention is to provide a container for uniformly measuring and transferring materials to containers or packages;
Another object of my invention is to provide a cylinder for measuring and transferring materials in fluid form to containers or packages;
A further object of my invention is to provide a cylinder for measuring and transferring materials in liquid and quasi-liquid form to containers or packages;
A still further object of my invention is to provide a cylinder for measuring and transferring materials in the form of explosives and flammables and other hazardous materials in liquid and quasi-liquid form into containers and packages in uniform quantities.